


M E L A N C H O L I A

by IHaveNoSoul13



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Daniel might appear soon???, Gen, I'll give 'em a mention in the first chapter, and maybe Jen/Gen???, thanks to the beta readers, the chapters are creepy music box song names, this is an au by the way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-09 01:45:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11659032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IHaveNoSoul13/pseuds/IHaveNoSoul13
Summary: Max, with blurry memories, wakes up on the side of the road in a town he has neither seen nor been to before. Needing a place to stay for until his phone gets signal, he finds himself in a camp.Camp Campbell.But what lurks underneath?What happens in Camp Campbell stays in Camp Campbell.





	M E L A N C H O L I A

The first thing Max sees when he wakes up is blue. Blue skies. Not a cloud in sight, as far as he can tell. 

They're blurred, his vision is blurry and hazy. He groans, rubs his eyes and sits up. His neck aches, so he twists it, to look around and get rid of the cramp. That's when he sees all the townsfolk looking at him.

"Are you okay, kid?" One man is on his knees, concern in his eyes as he offers a hand to Max. "You hurt at all?"

Scrunching up his nose as the hand is offered to him, Max turns away. "'m fine. Where am I?" He asks as he stands, at first wobbly on his feet (though he easily steadies himself).

"Sleepy Peak, son." Something's off, Max notes - an accent, country, and he has never heard it before. A town name, one he has never heard before.

"Never heard of it."

 

"I guessed so." At that, Max raises an eyebrow but decides to not ask questions. Was there even anything to question? Shaking his head, he sighs. "Do you know when your parents are?"

His parents. How did he get here? He skims the area, not a car in sight, and certainly not his family's own. No one here is familiar.

If no one here is familiar, how did he get here?

He must have whispered his question, as a waitress, it appears, say, "We only found ya because a man was making a big ol' fuss about your presence. He runs the camp a little while down the road, but no one comes and goes to or from that camp. His name is Cameron Campbell. If ya need a place to stay, I'd suggest there."

"I need a ride home, I'll call my parents." Max tests his phone for signal, but without luck. "Shit." He tenses up, squeezing the phone in his hand, staring it down, eyes pleading. "No signal."

"How about you come into the restaurant I work at, sweetie, and we can rustle you up some grub? If the phone works, I'm sure my manager won't mind me letting you use it!" The waitress tilts her head, grinning, eyes shut.

Max looks at her sceptically, scrunching his nose up again and narrowing his eyes. "Hmph." But, regardless of his lack of trust, he accepts the offer - he wants to get out of 'Sleepy Peak' (ugh, what kind of name was that?) as soon as possible and back to his typical city life.

She offers a hand, still grinning, but he still doesn't take the offer, Max having never been one for hand holding, but she doesn't mind that, it appears. The restaurant looks battered and beaten by the summer sun, the wood light. A banner in one of the criss-cross windows reads 'single moms welcome', and newspaper stands, one yellow, one blue, stand outside.

"Still The Only Bar...?" The waitress ignores this comment and leads Max inside, holding the door open for him.

On the inside, there are posters and plaques and paintings on the wall, green sofas against the walls and a dartboard on another. The atmosphere is cosy, but it feels cold and empty, as if it's just the waitress and Max.

"How about some soup? Or salad?" 

Max shrugs, but she giggles and takes it an answer. "I'll get you a drink of water, honey. The phone's over there." With that, she gestures to a booth tucked into the corner of building, a phonebox-esque phone resting in its place on the wall, visible through the ajar door. As soon as she hurries off, Max stands up and goes to it.

Sliding some coins into the slot, he dials his parents' number, but there's nothing. He tries again, and again, and again, and it's only on his fifth try does he look at the cord.

It's been severed in half, uneven and messily done. Max stares at it for a while, the phone still at his ear, in disbelief. His only shot at calling home, severed. Cut in half. 

The waitress must have taken his water and whatever food she thought he ordered to his table to see he wasn't there, because she opens the door and sees him, the phone and then the cord. She frowns, says something under her breath and then giggles, though not so upbeat as before. "Those silly drunkards must have cut it again, but not to worry. You may have signal in here, honey!"

No dice. Max still doesn't have signal and his phone is on forty-four percent. With a sigh, he shoves his phone into his hoodie pocket and eats the soup that she brought to him with the occasional sip of water. He fiddles with his remaining coins, but she just giggles (God, a laugh has never been so irritating) and pushes them back. "No, sweetie, this is on the house. I'll pay for it, dontcha worry your little head!"

Without a way home, signal or a phone, Max sees no other decision but to hitch a ride to the camp and stay there until he can get home.

"So, where's this camp?"

The waitress smiles, suddenly no longer giggling. Max looks up at her. Was it just him or was there a draft?

"I'll take you there, sweetie. Free of charge."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max doesn't like the look of this place. It's too green, too cheerful. It's not the place for a city boy like him but, until he has signal, it'll do. 

A lake surrounds the vicinity, a flag pole towers the camp grounds, its flag green and gold, the mess hall nearly as tall and an oaky colour (hell if Max knew what wood it was). The grass was uneven and seemed to have not been tended to for years. Tents are pitched in a circle of some sorts around a campfire, unlit at the moment.

"Welcome to Camp Campbell, sugar pea. I hope you get signal soon!" And with that and a wave and a giggle, the waitress is off, driving her car back to the stupid, stupidly named town of Sleepy Peak.

Max frowns for a while, looking around the camp. "Well shit, it really is deserted," he mutters, sucking on the inners of his teeth. "Maybe they'll have a pho-"

"Hello, and welcome to Camp Campbell!" A voice calls, friendly but loud. It comes from nowhere, it seems, until Max turns around. 

A red headed smiley man with noodle limbs is running his way, radiating positivity - too much for anyone to be afraid of him so, while a stranger running toward him would usually be terrifying, Max just stands and stares him down as he gets closer.

"My name is David, and you are?" 

"The name's Max," he says, shrugging. "I woke up on the side of the road in the town and got taken here by a waitress lady or some shit. Got a phone?"

David twitches. "Language!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, got a phone?"

"I swear to fuck, David, if this is another kid who just showed up." Another voice appears from seemingly nowhere, but this time it belongs to a woman, who really isn't so happy as this weirdo. She seems more angry, perhaps with life, perhaps with David, perhaps with both.

"Ah, sorry Gwen, he just showed up."

"David."

"Gwen, he woke up on the side of the road."

"David."

"He was brought here!"

"David!"

"He needs a phone!"

"DAVID!" Gwen sighed, face in hand and then looked at Max. "We don't have a phone, kid. None of us do. There's no signal in these areas."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Language!"

"I need to call my parents and tell them I'm safe! They might be worried about me!" Max sticks his hands in his pocket.

"At least you have a bag with you?" David offers, grin not so upbeat but now just nervous, hands waving about in front of him.

A bag... He does have a bag with him... Why?

He'll look into that later.

Gwen sighs, rubbing her face and groaning. "You know what. Fine. He can stay. But only until he gets signal on his phone and is able to call his parents."

Max sighs as well. This will be better than nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The campers turn out to be hiding in their tents, the newest of them being a stranger causing their fear. But, with David's irresistible coaxing of food, they eventually pile into the mess hall, ready to eat. They all eat something, but Max is served something different to them. He can barely tell what they're eating, it's almost blurry to him, but he himself is eating soup.

He's been eating a lot of soup today, huh? Hopefully, that's not the only thing he'll be eating while he's here. Not that he'll be staying here long - he'll probably get signal at some point before his phone dies. He doubts that there's any electricity or chargers out here and, even if there are, he doubts, even more, they'd work for his phone.

Technology is very... singular, and it's always been something Max has found very annoying. He keeps his phone tucked into his hoodie's pocket, bag under his feet under the table. Two of the campers - one a lanky noodle of a boy, the other short and, while still noodle-like, a bit buff - sit on the opposite side of the table with him, even though there seems to be plenty of room on other tables.

"You're the new kid, huh?" The girl leans over the table, nearly squashing her food, her turquoise hair in pigtails and nearly in her food. "You're the Max we all heard about?" On her face is a grin - but not the waitress' grin, not David's grin, her own grin (mischievous, adventurous, other words ending in -ous). It's a refresher from all the adult kindness, all the positivity. This is just a typical child being typically childish, and Max manages a tiny small at her grin, even if it quickly fades soon as he comes to a realisation.

"How do you know my name?" Max looks up from his soup, eyebrow raised, eyes on both of the kids.

"We heard David say it earlier." The boy shrugs, pausing in eating his... blurred food. At least he has some sort of manners - the girl was, and still is, talking through her food. "So, why are you here?"

"I woke up on the side of the road in the nearby town. It has a really shit name." The stranger stops to chuckle. "Anyway, I've never been to this town and there's no signal. I have no other choice to stay here."

"Hopefully you won't be too here too long." The boy pauses to eat some of his food and, once he'd gulped it down, says, "I'm Neil and my, um, companion... of sorts... uh, here is Nikki."

Nikki has wolfed down her food now, even skipping up to the kitchen to get seconds.

"So, what are you even eating?" Max asks, gesturing to the food.

Neil's face flushed red a second. "I, um, it's, uh..." He gestures to Max's. "It's soup! Like yours! You are eating soup, right?"

"No, Neil, I'm drinking the blood of my enemies." He rolls his eyes. "Yes, dipshit, of course it's soup." He twists his spoon in the soup, putting it inside his mouth to eat the soup. "So, why are you here? Did you come of your own will or did you wake up on the side of road?"

Neil squirms, looking away and at the other campers, including Nikki, tugging the collar of his hideously yellow turtleneck jumper. "Oh god, she's going to eat everything." And with that, he stands up and runs over, a panicked look on his face. He points at himself and then at Max and then wildly gestures to the mess hall. Or maybe the camp. Max himself watches with mild amusement and interest as he eats his soup, soon having to scrape the bowl just to get a spoonful.

He hasn't even been here for an hour and Max can already tell that staying here at Camp Campbell will be an... experience. 

"All righty, kids, once you've eaten your lunches, we'll go outside and play some sports! We've all got to keep healthy!" He goes on to list what sports they could play, baseball, rugby, cricket, all sorts of team sports that Max has no interest in playing. Some of the campers groan but a few of them grin.

Max heaves himself up from his spot, pulling his bag up from underneath the table as the other children get up too. Neil and Nikki are still lurking at the back, Nikki spooning her seconds, or thirds, into her mouth. "I guess you don't want to do sports?"

"Sports is shit," Neil says, rolling his eyes. "And Nurf will just end up throwing tomatoes at us or taking our equipment." He rolls his eyes again. "Always does."

"Neil, Nikki, you need to be playing outside with the campers! We need to show our newest camper around!" David, twirling around on a foot, ushers the two children outside, smiling still. If Max has to see that grin again, he's going to smash David's teeth in. "Of course, we'll need to get you a place to sleep. You seemed to like Neil, and he doesn't have a tent buddy, so we'll pair you up with him for the time being." 

Max shrugs. "I just want to get out of here already and back home." He coughs. The air is too fresh here, it makes him want to gag. He just wants to lie on his sofa, huddled up under a blanket, play video games and eat junk food as his parents tut and sigh.

"Well, hopefully, you'll get signal."

Max decides to check now for signal and, almost predictably, there was none. His battery is now only on forty percent, a nerve-wracking discovery, so, to save power, he shoves it back in his pocket.

"Maybe not now, but soon!" David grins, leaning over on one foot toward Max. "I'll take you to Neil's tent so you can get settled, and then you can feel free to join us playing sports."

Max groans. "Great."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In his bag, Max finds his treasured stuffed bear, Mr Honeynuts; he gives him a squeeze in his arms before tucking Mr Honeynuts into the bed (David told him that every tent had a bed instead of a sleeping bag, but was cut short when Gwen called him for back up).

Neil wasn't kidding about Nurf, was he?

Other contents in the bag include a few more hoodies, some jeans and some of his other, less important belongings. And a... pocket knife? He puts that back in the bag. "I'll never use it. Why do I even have it?"

He then leaves the tent... and a frisbee nearly hits him in the face.

"NERRIS! You nearly HIT the NEW GUY!" Whoever is yelling needs to learn about volume control. When the guy runs over to the frisbee, which landed beside Max, the boy gets a good look.

His hair is poofy and dark brown, the style reminding him of Shakespeare, and his clothes are of a similar style. Really, the boy looks absolutely ridiculous, and Max would happily let him know. 

"UGH! Amateurs! Nerris! If you're TERRIBLE at frisbee then WHY would you choose to PLAY it?!" The boy picks up the frisbee and, as he walks back to his little group of three, waves it around in the air.

"For practice! And because all the other sports are terrible!" 'Nerris' has a lisp, it appears, and Max nearly bursts out laughing. She's wearing a blue, triangular cap, elf ears that are a shade too light for her complexion, glasses and... oh my god, she has braces.

"Yeah, Preston, leave Nerris alone!" The last speaker, a boy with a tiny top hat, white gloves and a tuxedo style shirt, not only has an accent in his voice, but also sounds childish. God, has he not gone through puberty?

"Fuck off Harrison."

Max sniggers a little but then spots Neil and Nikki kicking a ball. Hands casually in his pocket, he saunters over there to join them. Maybe ask Neil again why he's here.

While all the other campers are spread out around, Neil and Nikki remain nearest the tents, kicking a ball around. Considering it's just to each other and there doesn't seem to be a point system, they're probably just bored out of their minds.

Max stands, idle, watching them, head tilted. Nikki grins at him and, possibly to show off, kicks the ball... right into Neil's face. The moment is fleeting but funny nonetheless, leaving Nikki and Max laughing. Neil, however, does not see the hilarity and just scowls, the odd murmur coming from his mouth. 

"Ha, ha, very funny," he mutters, his face sore. 

"Neil?" Max pipes up, still wheezing through laughter, though his laughter was more of a cackle.

"Yeah?" Neil gently kicks the ball back to Nikki, giving her a wary side glance,

"Why are you here at Camp Campbell?" 

Both of them freeze, Nikki mid kick. "I-I-I-"

"Is this a new camper I see?" A booming voice startles everyone, the others freezing, but Max, curiously, turns around to see who it is.

It is a man with grey hair in a quiff, some parts white. He is tall and muscular, towering over Max from a distance. He smiles but it's unsettling. Max raises a finger and then lowers it, staring, mouth ajar.

"My name is Cameron Campbell! How did you get to my camp?"

Max shrugs instead of telling the story - one, this man makes him feel nervous (maybe the height), two, he's tired of telling it.

"Did you stumble across it?"

In a way, yes. Max nods.

"And are you, uh, enjoying your time here?"

Max shrugs again. Campbell stops with the questions. 

"Well, I do hope you enjoy your stay here."

Max turns around to give Neil and Nikki a confused look.

The ball they were kicking around is rolling slightly, still in a similar place to where it was. 

Neil and Nikki are not there. 

No one is. It is just him, Campbell and a strange man with a hook (he'd been serving them their meals in the mess hall earlier). He looks back at Campbell's beaming face - the man is crouching now. 

Maybe it's not the height that's unnerving Max. 

"Well, I have things to do. I just thought I'd check up on my camp for now." He pats Max's hair (he doesn't appreciate that) and then leaves with a wave. "Tell your friends I said hello! They'll really appreciate the company, you know. It's been a while since someone was with them." And with that, he's gone, driving off into the distance. 

Max decides to look for everyone - they couldn't have gotten far, right? But why did they run off?

Eventually, seeing some of the other kids in their tents, he realises they ran off to their tents. He climbs inside his own and finds his tentmate Neil sitting in the corner of the tent, shaking. 

"Why did you and Nikki run off?"

"We... we, uh, don't like Mr Campbell."

Max snorts. "Yeah, the guy's creepy as hell."

"He's on the run from the government," Neil mumbles, dragging his knees into his arms. "And the police."

"Why, he kill someone?" It's a joke, but Neil at first pales and then goes red. 

"Something like that. You might have to ask David about it."

Max goes quiet. "So, is this the only camp around the area?"

Neil shakes his head. "I know of two camps. The Wood Scouts and the Flower Scouts. Apparently, that's how Nikki got here, but she moved over here. I don't know who runs them though." He sighs. "This isn't a normal camp."

Max chuckles and smiles. 

Neil doesn't.

"I gathered."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Chandahulk, Knife Cat, AmyThePillow, h0rrible-excuse, PastelQueenFam, pieduck and SkyHeartstar13 from Discord for beta-reading this!
> 
> Give h0rrible-excuse's fanfictions Camp Camp Swap Swap and Falling Apart a read - they're absolutely amazing! They're also running a project - Camp Camp Abridged! When it's out, go check it out!
> 
> ~Soul/Tristan.


End file.
